Jeremy Renner Confirmed as Hawkeye

It’s been nearly two full years in the making, but it now appears that Oscar-nominated and fan-favorite character actor Jeremy Renner is confirmed to play Hawkeye in The Avengers for Marvel Studios.

It all began in 2008 after the success of Iron Man where inside scoops pointed towards the characters of Hawkeye and Black Widow being introduced in Iron Man 2. Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) got her introduction and the only legitimate discussion we heard on Hawkeye came from Renner who had gone in to meet with some Marvel people to discuss Captain America. Instead, they talked about Hawkeye and now here we are.

“I’m writing and directing it… There will be some avenging that takes place during the film and that’s about all I can tell you. I think it’s well-known that Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker) is joining us as Hawkeye, which is so exciting for me and the rest of the cast.”

This a much more direct and accurate reveal by Joss Whedon unlike what he said about Nathan Fillion being his Ant-Man during a panel yesterday, jokingly of course… as far as we all know.

This is both awesome and unsurprising as word hit the net in May that Renner may have already signed on, or was at least close to signing. This was followed up again a few weeks later where reports indiciated he was about to become locked for the role of Hawkeye. Since then, Marvel’s been keeping this card under their sleeve along with several other announcements for events like Comic-Con.

It certainly is an epic cast they’re putting together in this intensely ambitious project and the other question marks that still remain involve who will replace Edward Norton as Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo reported to be near finishing deal) and what other characters may be joining the roster (Ant-Man and Wasp?).

What’s interesting is that when Renner initially discussed the part, he said last November that he thought the character of Hawkeye would show up in Thor. While that seemed strange since it made more sense for him to appear in Iron Man 2, I’d say we’ll be seeing him in Thor after all since the first footage ever is being revealed today and everything else that Renner said has already come true.